Topic: "The Dragon Returns" - Castlevania Lords of Shadow Sequel (HERE BE SPOILER INFO)

[Dracul_Belmont]

Someone said that there's another surprise on LOS2 maybe regarding the Belmont Clan. I think that they will bring Sonia as well, maybe they will be ''resurrecting'' characters. Hope so

[Lelygax]

Yeah, I've already mentioned it too, it makes more sense to bring these 2 characters than only 1, even more because Cox mentioned that he liked Sonia, but instead added Victor in this trailer.

[Asgardwolf]

It is a possibility. It could be a Belmont hunting Gabriel in the present (Victor) and will see another Belmont hunting him during the castle siege timeline.

[Lelygax]

Wow, it was a long time since I knew something before other so I could share, here it is:

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 – 60% of the game set in the city, 40% in Dracula’s castle; game length

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 is set in two main locations. Players will venture through a new modern-day setting, which encompasses roughly 60 percent of the game. The other 40 percent takes place in Dracula’s castle.

Producer David Cox told VideoGamer:

“The game takes place about 60 per cent in the city and about 40 per cent in the castle, and you can go between the city and the castle at will [once you reach] a certain stage of the game. As the world opens you have the freedom to go back forth to both. The whole game takes place in one night, the night that Satan is coming back. So playing in this gothic fantasy city, you can imagine, we’ve got rain, we’ve got different weather effects, it still has that [Castlevania] feeling. We didn’t want to make it Gotham City and we didn’t want to put Dracula in the middle of Times Square. We thought that would be ridiculous.”

Cox also commented on Lords of Shadow 2′s length. It’ll be about as long as the original, though there will be “more reasons to explore” because of the game’s structure.

“I think it’s a really interesting take on the Castlevania universe. If you keep an open-mind and you expect the unexpected I think you can enjoy the game. I think if you [approach with a] closed mind and you say, ‘Oh, it’s not 2D, it’s not Metroidvania’, you’re not going to enjoy the game. If you go into it with an open mind I think we could surprise you. I think it’s the surprise that players will really enjoy.”

Source: http://gamingeverything.com/castlevania-lords-of-shadow-2-60-of-the-game-set-in-the-city-40-in-draculas-castle-game-length/

[darkwzrd4]

Interesting. Although, the fact that the castle is only 40% of the game is a little disappointing. I mean if the split was more like 65% castle and 35% city, that might be more appealing. Regardless, I will try and keep an open mind.

(I still don't trust anything Cox says)

[Trevorcard]

Actually I am happy about the ratio. I feel that we seen so many Castles in all the other castlevania and we are going to see a good amount in this game. But I am excited for this Castlevaniaish City. 

[Maedhros]

60/40 is the amount of many older Castlevania games. SC4, CVIII, Rondo... all these games are mostly played outside the Castle.

[darkwzrd4]

Good point. Most of the old classicvanias spent most of the game with the journey to the castle itself. I had forgotten about that. I guess I'm still used to the metriodvania formula in which you are stuck inside the castle the whole game.

I just hope that the castle is nice and big with lots of different areas. Hopefully, there will be some classic areas from past games like a clock tower, chapel, keep, dungeon, etc.

[Pfil]

The problem with the original LoD wasn't that most of the game was spent outside the castle, but that the journey itself resembled little to Castlevania to many fans, myself included. I'm always inclined to wish more time outside the castle, but always in a Transylvanian haunting baroque look.
I'm not saying that will be the case here, though. I won't know until I play it.

[Asgardwolf]

The problem with the original LoD wasn't that most of the game was spent outside the castle, but that the journey itself resembled little to Castlevania to many fans, myself included. I'm always inclined to wish more time outside the castle, but always in a Transylvanian haunting baroque look.
I'm not saying that will be the case here, though. I won't know until I play it.

Legacy of Darkness? Just the Foggy Lake and the Silent Forest are outside of the castle the rest are inner stages, some zones like Villa were asimilated when Castlevania emerged. As i see it in SCIV as soon as you pass the bridge gate at the begining of the game you are inside the castle... Different from Simon`s Quest where 99% of the game it`s outside and you just need to go inside of the castle`s ruins to kill Dracula at the end of the game.

[e105beta]

Legacy of Darkness? Just the Foggy Lake and the Silent Forest are outside of the castle the rest are inner stages, some zones like Villa were asimilated when Castlevania emerged. As i see it in SCIV as soon as you pass the bridge gate at the begining of the game you are inside the castle... Different from Simon`s Quest where 99% of the game it`s outside and you just need to go inside of the castle`s ruins to kill Dracula at the end of the game.

Seeing that S is adjacent to D on the keyboard, I'm assuming Pfil meant LoS.

The problem with the original LoD wasn't that most of the game was spent outside the castle, but that the journey itself resembled little to Castlevania to many fans, myself included. I'm always inclined to wish more time outside the castle, but always in a Transylvanian haunting baroque look.
I'm not saying that will be the case here, though. I won't know until I play it.

Now whether you believe the developers or not, supposedly (I think it was Enrique that said it) the not Castlevania-ness has to do with the fact that they wanted to show the world as it was before Dracula came to power. I think it's a suitable explanation, as why would the land look like it does under Dracula's influence before the great vampire lord even came to be? Though it could just as easily be said that LoI circumvented the issue by setting up Walter Bernhard as a faux-Draucula figure that ultimately served the same purpose.

But personally, I thought the game DID mostly look Castlevania, though perhaps not as dark, which was probably intentional. The Abbey and the Castle were pretty staple, the Baba Yaga village was suitably dark and dreary, and hell, Agharta even gave me plenty of Rondo/Bloodlines vibes, though I can definitely see why it offended a lot of people's senses. Agharta also needed to be a lot shorter.

In fact, the part of the game that felt the least Castlevania to me was the Land of the Dead. That just felt like stereotypical, fantasy game unearthly wasteland.

[Flame]

I can agree with Agharta dragging on a bit.

[Maedhros]

Agartha sucks. =/

[beingthehero]

I liked a few parts of Agartha, mostly at the very beginning. But by the time I had to fight the black knight, I was more than ready to get out of the place. And that was only the half-way point for that area...

Also the Waterfalls of Agartha was used waaaaaay too much in the game. First time I heard it, I really liked it. By the time I was hearing it in Castle Bernhardt, it was almost comical. And then I was still hearing it in the land of the dead.

[Pfil]

Stupid me, always typing in a rush.
I mean LoS, yes. But that's my personal perception. It was related to the previous comment.

This one...

Good point. Most of the old classicvanias spent most of the game with the journey to the castle itself. I had forgotten about that. I guess I'm still used to the metriodvania formula in which you are stuck inside the castle the whole game.

I just hope that the castle is nice and big with lots of different areas. Hopefully, there will be some classic areas from past games like a clock tower, chapel, keep, dungeon, etc.

What I DID like about the original LoS are some gothic castle areas, like the clock tower and the library, some characters like Gabriel, Zobek and Laura, the voice acting (though the long voices-off were tedious, the voices were beautiful), the general story and the DLC, both of them, especially Reverie. That was the most Castlevania moment for me. And the ending, it was nice.
I wished the music would have been different, and maybe I'd like more about the game. That was the one aspect that killed it personally.
And so that I am saying what I liked about LoS, I'll say what I liked about MoF: some backgrounds and stage designs, the ability to swim (though I don't really care), Trevor's design, voice acting and the general story.
And special mention to LoS' fairies. Especially in the manual (yes, I own it... I try to own everything CV related when I can afford it). It's impossible I dislike a fairy 

And please make a screeshot about this, because Pfil saying what she liked about the MS games is indeed a dodo bird in the Dungeon

Edit: inserted original comment related to my previous one.